Dedicated just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bozeman Armory, built in 1941 and one of only six original Montana armories, is one of Bozeman's main connections to World War II, just ask any Bozeman old-timer...

One of 50 Bozeman structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Bozeman's historic wartime-era landmark of the 163 Infantry Regiment, with 18" thick concrete walls, was designed in classic 1920s art-deco style by famed Bozeman architect Fred Willson.

In recent years, the Armory has sat forlorn and empty on Bozeman, Montana's 24 West Mendenhall Street, 59715. In 2003, the state of Montana sold the Armory to the city of Bozeman, which then sold it for $815,000 to a developer who had grand plans for the structure's lot: razing the Armory and building a 90,000 square foot, eco-friendly, residential, office, and retail building; the new structure was even slated to have an earth-covered roof. But the economy faltered and locals bemoaned its loss, so plans to raze the old and raise the new were scrapped.

Bozeman's Armory has three primary levels, approximately 29,000 square feet and sits on approximately 19,000 square feet of one of the prime Bozeman downtown commercial lots. Downtown, on Mendenhall Street, close to the corner of Willson, there is a Bozeman city parking lot east of the Armory and even more parking lots about one block from the site.